Race & Demographics

20 million people are pulled over annually in traffic stops throughout the United States, according to The Stanford Open Policing Project. New data shows a disproportionate number of those motorists in North Carolina are black. The findings come from a comprehensive analysis of every traffic stop in the state from 2002 to 2016.

Putting on running shoes and heading out for a jog is not a straightforward affair for black men. Runner Rendell Smith remembers a white woman who was so scared when she saw him jogging toward her, she dropped her groceries and bolted.

After Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a national conversation started about law enforcement and communities of color. That conversation was also happening in Cary, North Carolina, at Headliners Barbershop, where the clientele is majority African-American.

Leoneda Inge reports on efforts across North Carolina to publicly mark where lynchings took place.

It’s hard to count the exact number of African Americans who were lynched by white mobs during the years following slavery. Numbers show most of these brutal, deadly acts occurred in the South, between the 1870s and the 1950s.

Aspiring teachers are more likely to mistake emotions for anger in the face of a black person than a white person, according to a new study published in the journal "Contemporary Education." It also found that participants were more likely to view the behavior of black boys as hostile.

Public outrage shamed the Trump administration into agreeing not to separate families at the border. Now a federal judge has put an end to most family separations and is calling for the families to be reunified. Since May, an estimated 2300 children have been taken away from their parents while trying to enter the country.

In an attempt to regulate unaccompanied children who cross the border, the Trump administration is considering detaining them in tent cities. In an exclusive by Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy, there are reports that the Department of Health and Human Services is scouting locations at military bases in Texas that will house up to 5,000 migrant children.

The Asian-American population in North Carolina has exploded in the past few decades. A 2016 study shows that from 2000-2010, the Asian-American population in the state grew by 85 percent, which was the third-fastest growth rate in the country. But who exactly makes up this growing population? What are their stories and traditions, and how are they changing the face of North Carolina?

Leoneda Inge reports on the town of Warrenton getting its first municipal park.

The season for cookouts, games and outdoor relaxation is in full swing at local parks across the state. It’s especially the right time for fun in the town of Warrenton, near the Virginia state line, which recently opened its first municipal park. It sits in an all-black community that has had few options for recreation over the years.

When the white door to a three bedroom, one bathroom home on the south side of Greensboro opened recently, its frame filled with a tiny, older white woman before becoming engulfed by a 6-foot-4-inch black teenager.

Although the two don't look alike, Debbie Rochelle and Khalil Setzer are related.

Leoneda Inge reports on two undocumented immigrant women who have taken sanctuary in churches in North Carolina to avoid deportation.

Since Donald Trump took office, the number of non-criminal undocumented immigrants detained and arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spiked. That has pushed some to seek sanctuary in churches, where ICE says its policy is to avoid enforcement in so-called “sensitive locations.”

Waffle House has become embroiled in a new public scandal, and African-American activists are calling for a boycott. Early this week, a video went viral of 22-year-old Anthony Wall getting choked by a police officer outside of a Waffle House in Warsaw, North Carolina.

Jason deBruyn reports on how President Trump's 'Extreme Vetting' has impacted refugees resettled in North Carolina.

Sarah Alsammak walked across North Carolina State University's campus pointing out various landmarks. One of her favorite places is the tunnel where students draw graffiti art.

She stopped to pose for a photo – which took longer than it might have, if not for students darting between her and a photographer. She hasn't painted anything on the tunnel walls herself, but said she might before she graduates.

The Trump administration’s new refugee restrictions have drastically cut the rate of refugees arriving in the United States and in North Carolina. In 2016, more than 3,000 refugees were resettled in the state. In 2017 there were fewer than 2,000 – the lowest rate in at least a decade. With the new stricter federal vetting policies in place, North Carolina is set to admit fewer than 900 refugees by the end of 2018.

In 1931, Willie Peterson was arrested for the attack of three white women in Birmingham, Alabama. He did not match the description that the sole survivor of the attack gave police, other than the fact that he was black. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

James Morrison reports on the political fallout that continues months after a legal battle over the destruction of a Confederate monument in Downtown Durham.

A legal battle over the destruction of a Confederate monument in Downtown Durham is over, but the political fallout lingers.

Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews pressed hard for felony charges against the original nine suspects last August. And now he’s facing a tough battle in the May 8 Democratic primary race against opponent Clarence Birkhead – the candidate he beat in the 2014 race.

The concept began with eight mayors from historically black towns who joined academics to preserve history, problem solve and build for the future. The 2015 project was so successful, it has expanded into the multidisciplinary Black Communities conference. Hosted by the Institute for African American Research and NCGrowth, organizer Karla Slocum is professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Institute of African American Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and organizer Mark Little is Director of NCGrowth and Executive Director at UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Universities from Brown in Rhode Island to Furman in South Carolina have commissions in place to study Race, Slavery and Monuments. One institution where millions of dollars is being spent to make sure everyone has a say in how universities remember and mark the past is the University of Virginia.

A documentary about the little-known woman who co-founded the first farmworkers unions is being shown tonight in Raleigh. Many people have heard of Cesar Chavez. But right next to him was Dolores Huerta, fighting for racial and labor justice. Here is activist Angela Davis from the documentary called “Dolores.”

Duke University has teamed up with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Project to connect today’s young organizers with activists of the civil rights era. The project is called “SNCC Digital Gateway,” and its aim is to pass on informational wealth from the organizers of SNCC to the young people of today, to help inform their activism. Instead of solely taking information from the SNCC activists, researchers treated the activists as partners and fellow scholars in their collaboration on this project.